Downtown wouldn't mind being a bit bookish

C.W. McKeen / The Post-StandardBookstores are major assets to village and city centers. They become gathering places, and a nice enough store -- like the Colgate University Bookstore in downtown Hamilton pictured here -- can anchor a downtown shopping district. Downton Syracuse has lacked a major bookstore since 1994.

Touring, Talking, Downtown Syracuse

From noon to 6 p.m. Saturday is the Downtown Living Tour. For more information, call the Downtown Committee at 422-8284.

Also Saturday, help create a Citizens' Agenda for Downtown Syracuse from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday at The Post-Standard in downtown Syracuse, just off of Clinton Square. Enter through the Clinton Street entrance. Contact Greg Munno at gmunno@syracuse.com, or 470-6084 for more information.

In 1992, the Economy Book and Stationary Store filed for bankruptcy after 57 years in downtown Syracuse. Two years later, Walden Books announced its strategy of focusing on malls, and closed its store at 339 S. Salina St.

Downtown hasn't had full-fledge bookstore since, despite the fact that a bookstore is one thing that visitors and residents downtown say they'd most like to see developed, said Merike Treier, deputy director for the Downtown Committee.

"We've been looking into three main items for downtown - a bookstore, a grocery store and a movie theater," Treier said.

Those three amenities, along with more festivals, exactly match what takers of the first CNYSpeaks survey said they wanted to see more of downtown.

And it jibes with what County Executive Joanie Mahoney wants to see downtown. In an interview with CNYSpeaks last year, she identified having a "great bookstore" as something of key importance to downtown. She noted that bookstores, along with music stores like Sound Garden, are destinations for shoppers because you can enjoy and interact with the product without feeling pressure to make a quick purchase.

Treier thinks major retailers, including bookstores, will start looking at downtown more seriously when its permanent population hits 5,000, which she thinks could happen by 2010 or 2011. Downtown now boasts about 2,700 residents, up from almost nothing just a few years ago, when developers started converting empty office and warehouse space downtown into apartments and condos.

Many of those conversations will be on display from noon to 6 p.m. Saturday, during the Downtown Living Tour. The tour headquarters is at downtown's newest building, Jefferson Clinton Commons, on the corner of Jefferson and Clinton streets. For more information, call the Downtown Committee at 422-8284, or visit them at www.downtownsyracuse.com.

Also Saturday is the final CNYSpeaks solutions forum, from 2 to 4 p.m. at The Post-Standard, just off of Clinton Square. The event is free and open to all. For more information, contact Greg Munno at gmunno@syracuse.com or 470-6084.